Mexican rice

A long time ago, my uncle was married to a woman who made LEGENDARY Mexican rice. Every special occasion, every get-together, we begged her to make it. I don't care if we were making Thanksgiving turkey or Christmas ham, that rice was next to it on the table, nestled amongst the cranberries and stuffing. And it was the first dish to be gobbled up.

She gave us the recipe, but when we made it, it wasn't the same. As it happened, circumstances led to her no longer being in the family, and we mourned her rice.

Fast forward to a few years ago when Chris had a friend and his wife come stay with us for a weekend. We fired up the bbq pit and the wife decided to make "her famous" rice for the meal. Remembering the pattern of mexican rice at meals that did not demand mexican rice, I was intrigued.

She gathered ingredients from the pantry, and I noticed they looked familiar. My heart skipped a beat.

As she made the rice, I discovered the crucial missing step from the recipe that the former aunt had given out. It was like a sparkling secret developing on my stove top.

Elated, I waited for the rice to finish cooking and sure enough, it was the amazing fabled rice we enjoyed as kids. A single tear fell from my eye. I finally had it.

And now I'm going to share it with you.

Gather ingredients:

2 cloves minced garlic
1T. olive oil
1t. chicken bullion- make sure it's GF
1c. rice
2c. water
1 4oz can tomato sauce

Sautee the rice and garlic in oil.
^^THIS IS THE SECRET STEP!! If you don't do this, you'll simply end up with regular tomato-y rice.

Dont be shy. Get all the rice nice and browned. This gives you that perfect texture in the final product.

Finish cooking like regular rice: Stir in the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes, until all the liquid is absorbed.

Feast on legendary rice. In this case, I added it to Burrito Bowls.